They shaped our century
Encyclopedia
The They shaped our century survey was a top 100 list published in 1999 about which people had the greatest influence on South Africa during the twentieth century. The survey was run by South African media giant Media24 among users of its web portal. This survey preceded the SABC Great South Africans
survey by three years, and evoked less public outcry. After voting closed, brief biographies were written for the top 100 names and published in English and Afrikaans in a book called "They shaped our century"
There were two father-son pairs and two husband-wife pairs in the final list, namely Ernest and Harry Oppenheimer, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Interestingly, one of the list candidates, Andre P Brink, is also an author of some of the biographies in the list.
Originally voting would have ended in July 1999 but was later extended to 31 August and into October 1999.
The survey's web site was http://news.24.com/best100. The voting portal contained a discussion forum so people could argue merits or demerits of candidates. Members of the public could vote in favour of a candidate but could also vote against a candidate. All candidates' names on the web site linked to short profiles about them.
did not make the list, or why statesmen Hertzog
and Steyn were ranked below sportsman Gary Player
, sportsman Danie Craven
and stage artist Pieter-Dirk Uys
.
Another critic acclaimed the biographic article about Mandela (by Vincent Maphati) but derided the articles about Verwoerd as less than satisfactory. It was also said that the survey compared apples with oranges, and questions were raised about whether Chris Barnard
could truly have been said to have had more influence than Harry Oppenheimer
, Jan Smuts
and Gary Player.
The survey's own web site fielded questions about the omission of Barney Barnato
, Ysuf Veriava, Johan de Villiers, and Sammy Marks.
SABC3's Great South Africans
Great South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
survey by three years, and evoked less public outcry. After voting closed, brief biographies were written for the top 100 names and published in English and Afrikaans in a book called "They shaped our century"
There were two father-son pairs and two husband-wife pairs in the final list, namely Ernest and Harry Oppenheimer, Govan and Thabo Mbeki, Nelson and Winnie Mandela, and Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Interestingly, one of the list candidates, Andre P Brink, is also an author of some of the biographies in the list.
Procedure of the survey
An initial list of 120 names was compiled by historian Trwella Cameron and publisher JJ Human. The names of BJ Vorster and Chris Hani were initially deliberately left out. The internet viewing public was asked to vote on the initial list and to submit suggestions for additions to the list. From the submissions it was determined by the publisher that both BJ Vorster and Chris Hani should be included in the list after all. People who were not South Africans but who influenced South Africa, were also eligible for the list. During the survey and in the book no labels such as "politician", "sportsperson", "activist" etc are provided for the names.Originally voting would have ended in July 1999 but was later extended to 31 August and into October 1999.
The survey's web site was http://news.24.com/best100. The voting portal contained a discussion forum so people could argue merits or demerits of candidates. Members of the public could vote in favour of a candidate but could also vote against a candidate. All candidates' names on the web site linked to short profiles about them.
Comparison with SABC Great South Africans survey
One of the ways in which the list differs from the SABC Great South Africans list is that it contains very few sportsmen, and certainly none of the post-1994 heroes that featured prominently in the SABC list. The biographies printed in They shaped our century as a book is often cited as a source of information. The SABC survey was not limited to internet users and enjoyed coverage in many media. In the SABC survey, one could vote for a candidate but not against a candidate.Criticism
Criticism against the survey included questions about why Gustav PrellerGustav Preller
Gustav Schoeman Preller is known as a journalist, historian, writer and literarary critic.He fought for the recognition of Afrikaans. Preller helped the Afrikaner to awake to...
did not make the list, or why statesmen Hertzog
Hertzog
Hertzog is a German surname, which is a variant of Herzog. Hertzog may also refer to:* Enrique Hertzog , was president of Bolivia, 1947-1949* James Barry Munnik Hertzog, a prime minister of South Africa....
and Steyn were ranked below sportsman Gary Player
Gary Player
Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
, sportsman Danie Craven
Danie Craven
Daniël Hartman Craven , more famously known as Danie Craven or simply Doc Craven, is a former Western Province, Eastern Province, Northern Transvaal and Springbok rugby union player as well as arguably South Africa's best and best-known rugby administrator...
and stage artist Pieter-Dirk Uys
Pieter-Dirk Uys
Pieter-Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, active as a performer, author, and social activist. He is the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and Berlin-born Jewish mother and had an NG Kerk upbringing. He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the...
.
Another critic acclaimed the biographic article about Mandela (by Vincent Maphati) but derided the articles about Verwoerd as less than satisfactory. It was also said that the survey compared apples with oranges, and questions were raised about whether Chris Barnard
Chris Barnard
Christopher Leslie Barnard was a Welsh professional footballer in the 1960s and 1970’s. He was born in Cardiff.Chris Barnard, a midfielder, began his career as an apprentice at Southend United, turning professional in August 1965 and playing 8 times in the league the following season...
could truly have been said to have had more influence than Harry Oppenheimer
Harry Oppenheimer
Harry Frederick Oppenheimer was a prominent South African businessman and one of the world's richest men...
, Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
and Gary Player.
The survey's own web site fielded questions about the omission of Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato , born Barnet Isaacs, was a British Randlord, one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later gold mining, in South Africa from the 1870s.-Background:...
, Ysuf Veriava, Johan de Villiers, and Sammy Marks.
The list
Here is the list of names published in the book, in order. The labels are arbitrary and is not an indication of the field in which they contributed most to South Africa.- Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
- statesman - Frederik Willem de KlerkFrederik Willem de KlerkFrederik Willem de Klerk , often known as F. W. de Klerk, is the former seventh and last State President of apartheid-era South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994...
- statesman - Hendrik Verwoerd - statesman
- Chris BarnardChris BarnardChristopher Leslie Barnard was a Welsh professional footballer in the 1960s and 1970’s. He was born in Cardiff.Chris Barnard, a midfielder, began his career as an apprentice at Southend United, turning professional in August 1965 and playing 8 times in the league the following season...
- surgeon - Harry OppenheimerHarry OppenheimerHarry Frederick Oppenheimer was a prominent South African businessman and one of the world's richest men...
- businessman - Jan SmutsJan SmutsJan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
- statesman - Gary PlayerGary PlayerGary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
- sportsman - Cornelis Jakob LangenhovenCornelis Jacobus LangenhovenCornelis Jacobus Langenhoven , wrote under the pen name C.J. Langenhoven and was better known as Sagmoedige Neelsie or Kerneels. He had a formidable role in South Africa's Afrikaans literature and cultural history, and was one of the young language's foremost promoters...
- author - Anton RupertAnton RupertDr. Anthony Edward Rupert was an Afrikaner South African billionaire entrepreneur, businessman and conservationist. He was born and raised in the small town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape. He studied in Pretoria and ultimately moved to Stellenbosch, where he established the Rembrandt Group ...
- businessman - Cecil John RhodesCecil John RhodesCecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
- businessman - Danie CravenDanie CravenDaniël Hartman Craven , more famously known as Danie Craven or simply Doc Craven, is a former Western Province, Eastern Province, Northern Transvaal and Springbok rugby union player as well as arguably South Africa's best and best-known rugby administrator...
- sportsman - Desmond TutuDesmond TutuDesmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
- cleric - Daniël Francois MalanDaniel François MalanDaniel François Malan , more commonly known as D.F. Malan, was the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. He is seen as a champion of Afrikaner nationalism. His National Party government came to power on the program of apartheid and began its comprehensive implementation.- Biography...
- statesman - Helen SuzmanHelen SuzmanHelen Suzman, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.-Biography:Helen Suzman, a life-long citizen of South Africa, was born as Helen Gavronsky in 1917 to Jewish immigrants....
- politician - Louis BothaLouis BothaLouis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
- statesman - NP Van Wyk LouwN. P. van Wyk LouwNicolaas Petrus van Wyk Louw , almost universally known as N.P. van Wyk Louw, was an Afrikaans-language poet, playwright, and scholar. He is the older brother of Afrikaans-language poet W.E.G. Louw.One of the Dertigers, or "Writers of the Thirties," N.P...
- author - John Vorster - statesman
- JBM Hertzog - statesman
- Ernest OppenheimerErnest OppenheimerSir Ernest Oppenheimer was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.-Career:...
- businessman - Steve BikoSteve BikoStephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
- activist - Pieter Willem BothaPieter Willem BothaPieter Willem Botha , commonly known as "P. W." and Die Groot Krokodil , was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989.First elected to Parliament in 1948, Botha was for eleven years head of the Afrikaner National Party and the...
- statesman - Raymond AckermanRaymond AckermanRaymond Ackerman is a South African businessman, who purchased the Pick 'n Pay supermarket group from its founder Mr Jack Goldin . Raymond Ackerman was chairman until he stepped down in 2010. He is also well known for his philanthropic activities...
- businessman - Chris HaniChris HaniChris Hani, born Martin Thembisile Hani was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress . He was a fierce opponent of the apartheid government...
- politician - Breyten BreytenbachBreyten BreytenbachBreyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
- author - Christiaan de WetChristiaan De WetChristiaan Rudolf de Wet was a Boer general, rebel leader and politician.He was born on the Leeuwkop farm, in the district of Smithfield in the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State...
- statesman - Oliver TamboOliver TamboOliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
- activist - Mohandas Gandhi - activist
- Thabo MbekiThabo MbekiThabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008. He is also the brother of Moeletsi Mbeki...
- statesman - Frederik van Zyl SlabbertFrederik van Zyl SlabbertFrederik van Zyl Slabbert was a South African political analyst, businessman and politician. He is best known for having been the leader of the official opposition — the Progressive Federal Party — in the House of Assembly from 1979 to 1986.-Early life, education and academic career:Born in...
- politician - Mangosutho ButheleziMangosuthu ButheleziInkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi is a South African Zulu politician who founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975 and continues to lead the party today.His praise name is Shenge.-Early life:...
- politician - Pieter-Dirk UysPieter-Dirk UysPieter-Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, active as a performer, author, and social activist. He is the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and Berlin-born Jewish mother and had an NG Kerk upbringing. He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the...
- stage artist - Walter SisuluWalter SisuluWalter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress .-Family and Education:...
- politician - Alan PatonAlan PatonAlan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
- author - Cyril RamaphosaCyril RamaphosaMatamela Cyril Ramaphosa is a South African lawyer, trade union leader, activist, politician and businessman. He was born in Soweto, Gauteng province...
- politician - Jacob Hendrik PierneefJacobus Hendrik PierneefJacobus Hendrik Pierneef Pretoria, was a South African landscape artist, generally considered to be one of the best of the old South African masters...
- painter - Eugène MaraisEugene MaraisEugène Nielen Marais was a South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer.- His early years, before and during the Boer War :Marais was born in Pretoria, the thirteenth and last child of his parents, Jan Christiaan Nielen Marais and Catharina Helena Cornelia van Niekerk...
- author - Herbert BakerHerbert BakerSir Herbert Baker was a British architect.Baker was the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, 1892–1912....
- engineer - André P Brink - author
- Koos de la ReyKoos de la ReyGeneral Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey , known as Koos de la Rey, was a Boer general during the Second Boer War and is widely regarded as being one of the strongest military leaders during that conflict....
- military leader - Beyers NaudéBeyers NaudéChristiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé was a South African cleric, theologian and the leading Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist...
- cleric - Joe SlovoJoe SlovoFor Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
- politician - Bruce FordyceBruce FordyceBruce Fordyce is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecutive. He also won the London to Brighton Marathon three years in a row...
- sportsman - Winnie Madikizela-MandelaWinnie Madikizela-MandelaWinnie Madikizela-Mandela is a South African politician who has held several government positions and headed the African National Congress Women's League. She is currently a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee...
- activist - Albert LuthuliAlbert LutuliAlbert John Lutuli , also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress , at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa...
- politician - Mimi CoertseMimi CoertseMimi Coertse , is a South African soprano.-Early life:Coertse, born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, matriculated at the Helpmekaar Girls High School in Johannesburg. She began vocal studies in South Africa in 1949. In July 1953 she married the broadcaster and composer Dawid Engela. She left South Africa...
- singer - Louis Leipoldt - author
- Dimitri TsafendasDimitri TsafendasDimitri Tsafendas assassinated the "Architect of Apartheid", South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd on 6 September 1966...
- assassin - Ali BacherAli BacherAron "Ali" Bacher is a former South African Test cricketer and an administrator of the United Cricket Board of South Africa.-Biography:...
- sportsman - Athol FugardAthol FugardAthol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
- playwright and actor - Marthinus Theunis Steyn - statesman
- Andries TreurnichtAndries TreurnichtAndries Petrus Treurnicht was a South African politician, Minister of Education during the Soweto Riots and for a short time leader of the National Party in Transvaal...
- politician - Herman Charles BosmanHerman Charles BosmanHerman Charles Bosman is the South African writer widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short story writer. He studied the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Mark Twain, and developed a style emphasizing the use of irony...
- author - Nadine GordimerNadine GordimerNadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
- author - Bram FischerBram FischerAbram Louis Fischer, commonly known as Bram Fischer, was a South African lawyer of Afrikaner descent, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defence of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial.-Tributes:Fischer is widely acknowledged as a key figure in...
- attorney - Sol KerznerSol KerznerSolomon Kerzner is a South African accountant and business magnate.-Background and career:Kerzner was born in Troyeville, Johannesburg, the youngest of four children to Jewish Russian immigrants...
- businessman - Olive SchreinerOlive SchreinerOlive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...
- author - Govan MbekiGovan MbekiGovan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician, and father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki...
- politician - Hans MerenskyHans MerenskyHans Merensky was a German South African geologist, prospector, scientist, conservationist and philanthropist...
- geologist - Alfred Milner - businessman
- Robert SobukweRobert SobukweRobert Mangaliso Sobukwe was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress in opposition to the apartheid regime. In 2004 Sobukwe was voted 42nd in the SABC3's Great South Africans....
- activist - Trevor HuddlestonTrevor HuddlestonErnest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...
- cleric - Helen JosephHelen JosephHelen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...
- activist - Allan BoesakAllan BoesakReverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and politician and anti-apartheid activist...
- cleric - Walter BattissWalter BattissWalter Whall Battiss was a South African artist, generally considered the foremost South African abstract painter and known as the creator of the quirky "Fook Island" concept....
- artist - Albertina SisuluAlbertina SisuluNontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu was a black South African anti–apartheid activist, and the widow of fellow activist Walter Sisulu . She was affectionately known as Ma Sisulu throughout her lifetime by the South African public. In 2004 she was voted 57th in the SABC3's Great South Africans...
- wife of politician - Albert Hertzog - statesman (son of J. B. M. Hertzog)
- Hendrik van der BijlHendrik van der BijlDr Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl FRS was a South African electrical engineer and industrialist. He was the founding Chairman of the Electricity Supply Commission in 1923. In 1927, he was the President of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers...
- industrialist - Sol PlaatjieSol PlaatjeSolomon Tshekisho Plaatje was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer. The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, which includes the city of Kimberley, was named after him.-Early life:...
- journalist - James Stevenson-HamiltonJames Stevenson-HamiltonColonel James Stevenson-HamiltonFather of the Kruger National Park Parks BoardLife before the Sabie Game reserve:James Stevenson-Hamilton was born the eldest of nine children in Scotland on the 2nd of October 1876. Being first born he was the legal heir to their family title and home at Fairholm,...
- environmentalist - Abdullah IbrahimAbdullah IbrahimAbdullah Ibrahim , born Adolph Johannes Brand, 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, and formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer...
- musician - Frene GinwalaFrene GinwalaFrene Noshir Ginwala is a South African journalist and politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 2004.Frene Ginwala is an Indian South African from the Parsi-Indian community of western India...
- journalist - Philip Tobias - scientist
- Irma SternIrma SternIrma Stern was a major South African artist who achieved national and international recognition in her lifetime.-Life:...
- painter - Nthato MotlanaNthato MotlanaDr. Nthato Harrison Motlana was a prominent South African businessman, physician and anti-apartheid activist. He was tried alongside Nelson Mandela by the Apartheid regime during the Defiance Campaign of 1951-52, and played a prominent role during the Soweto uprising as one of the members of the...
- businessman - Moses KotaneMoses KotaneMoses Mauane Kotane was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.-Early life:...
- fund raiser - Hendrik Johannes van Eck - industrialist
- Richard van der Ross - historian
- Oubaas Markötter - sports coach
- Mamphela RampheleMamphela RampheleMamphela Aletta Ramphele is a South African academic, businesswoman and medical doctor and was an anti-apartheid activist. She is a current trustee on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.-Life and career:...
- academic - John X MerrimanJohn X. MerrimanJohn Xavier Merriman was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.-Early life:...
- politician - Johannes Gerhardus StrijdomJohannes Gerhardus StrijdomJohannes Gerhardus Strijdom, commonly called JG Strydom or Hans Strydom , nicknamed the Lion of the North, was Prime Minister of South Africa from 30 November 1954 to 24 August 1958...
- politician - Charles Kohler - farmer
- Arnold TheilerArnold TheilerSir Arnold Theiler Pour le Mérite] is considered to be the father of veterinary science in South Africa. He was born in Frick, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. He received his higher education, and later qualified as a veterinarian, in Zurich...
- biologist - Raymond DartRaymond DartRaymond Arthur Dart was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist, best known for his involvement in the 1924 discovery of the first fossil ever found of Australopithecus africanus, an extinct hominid closely related to humans, at Taung in the North of South Africa in the province...
- paleontologist - Percy QobozaPercy QobozaPercy Peter Tshidiso Qoboza was an influential black South African journalist, author, and outspoken critic of the apartheid government in South Africa during the early periods of world recognition of the problems evident in the racially divided land...
- journalist - Ellen KuzwayoEllen KuzwayoNnoseng Ellen Kate Kuzwayo was a women's rights activist and politician in South Africa. She was president of the African National Congress Youth League in the 1960s. In 1994 she was elected to the first post-apartheid South African Parliament...
- activist - Amina Cachalia - activist
- Taubie KushlickTaubie KushlickTaubie Kushlick was a South African actress and producer. She became characterized as the self-styled "First Lady of Theatre".-Personal life and education:...
- theatre entrepreneur, director and actress - Jean Sinclair - activist
- Abdullah AbdurahmanAbdullah AbdurahmanAbdullah Abdurahman was a South African politician and physician, born in Wellington, South Africa...
- politician - August Aimé BalkemaAugust Aimé BalkemaAugust Aimé Balkema , or A.A. Balkema, was a Dutch book trader and publisher active in Amsterdam and South Africa...
- author - Hassan Howa - sports administrator
- Sydney Kumalo - stage artist
- Bessie HeadBessie HeadBessie Emery Head is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer.-Biography:Bessie Emery Head was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the child of a wealthy white South African woman and a black servant when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa...
- author - Vivian Fitzsimons - herpetologist
- James Gear - scientist
- Dulcie HowesDulcie HowesDulcie Howes was a South African ballet dancer, considered the prima ballerina assoluta, in her time, of South African ballet. She was born in Mossel Bay, near Cape Town....
- stage artist - Isie Maisels - attorney
- Clements KadalieClements KadalieClements Kadalie was South Africa's first black national trade union leader.- Life :Clements Kadalie was born in April 1896 in Nkhata Bay District at Chifira village near the Bandawe mission station in Nyasaland, presently Malawi. He was the second born son of Mr. and Mrs. Musa Kadalie Muwamba. He...
- activist - Jim Bailey - journalist
See also
- The 100The 100The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart, reprinted in 1992 with revisions. It is a ranking of the 100 people who, according to Hart, most influenced human history....
, a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart. - SABC3's Great South AfricansSABC3's Great South AfricansGreat South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
, a similar survey in 2002 by a South African broadcaster - Greatest Britons spin-offsGreatest Britons spin-offsThe following is a list of spin-offs of the 2002 100 Greatest Britons program produced by the BBC.- External links :* *...
- List of South Africans, Wikipedia's own list of well-known South Africans